Porthole

4148 06 Places have a moment until that moment has passed

Prompt: Write about America.

From: "Invalid Item" 

Me: Tell me about this place called America.

90210: I'm named for a place in it. It's bare scrubby hills, but once it was a famous place for the 'stars'.

Me: 'Stars'?

90210: The rich and famous. But then your people care little about either. The people of America valued both.

Me: Was it a big city?

90210: No, America was a vast ... there is no word in your language ... region. Many millions of people.

Me: Does it still exist?

90210: No. Nothing ever existed on that planet for long. Too chaotic and warlike.

Me: Like Klingons?

90210: No no no ... much worse. Their planet was observed very closely for millennia and all visits to their star system closed. It was too risky to be infected.

Me: So why do you know about it?

90210: The historians wrote a lot about it. It was a very successful place and showed great potential. There were many at that time who exclaimed, finally! There was great hope when they reached out to the stars.

Me: What happened?

90210: Greed, inflexibiltiy, divisiveness, a looking to the past instead of the future. Historians disagree exactly why it fell apart. But 'everyone for himself' doomed it. Like many places it had its moment until that moment passed. I studied it because it was a great example of hope and trampled dreams. And I'm human.

Me: And you visited.

90210: Yes. Nothing but scrub-brush and searing heat. Everyone thought I was crazy to visit ruins. But when I visited even most of the ruins were gone.

Me: So your name.

90210: A reminder that I'm neither rich nor famous nor do I choose to be.

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